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Now I for one, have several books that I could easily re-read over and over again and never get bored of. The whole Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins and The Host by Stephanie Meyer are two examples of books which I have read numerous times and yet always seem to navigate back towards.

But am I wasting my time?

I’m reading books which I have read multiple times and although I’m remembering scenes which had slipped my memory, I’m “wasting” time which I could be using to read a new book.

But surely I’m not the only one who drifts back towards certain favourite books and re-reads those, despite having a tbr pile taller than yourself?

I tend to feel slightly guilty when I start re-reading a book in full knowledge of the fact that I have an ever-growing tbr pile that will not go down because I’m re-reading The Hunger Games for the 45th time but oh well.

I still argue with myself that maybe I’m wasting my time re-reading books and maybe I should read something new…something that I’ve had on my tbr pile for a while…if you’ve read my “Extracts from my current tbr pile” post, you’re probably thinking that maybe I should start reading Poldark as I’ve had on my tbr pile since 2015; in which case, you’ll be glad to know that I’ve finally started it! But at the end of the day, if you’re happy re-reading your old favourite books, then do it! I plan to do exactly that!

You may be wondering if I wrote this post to convince myself that it’s fine to keep re-reading my old favourite books…and you’d be right! But if you prefer to read your favourite books over and over again, rather than reading new ones, then you do that!

For any of my followers/regular readers of my blog, I apologise for my lack of posts! I’m back with one of my favourite reads of July: One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus!

I purchased this book from Book Depository after reading the blurb on the site whilst browsing for new books. I initially started reading the blurb after spotting the words “recommended for fans of Gossip Girl” as I’m a big fan, although I’ve only seen the first two series!

I got a fab surprise when I opened my parcel…THE PAGE EDGES ARE RED! (see featured image of this post).

But onto the book itself…

The blurb of the book is below:

“Yale hopeful Bronwyn has never publicly broken a rule.

Sports star Cooper only knows what he’s doing in the baseball diamond.

Bad body Nate is one misstep away from a life of crime.

Prom queen Addy is holding together the cracks in her perfect life.

And outsider Simon, creator of the notorious gossip app at Bayview High, won’t ever talk about any of them again.

He dies 24 hours before he could post their deepest secrets online. Investigators conclude it’s no accident. All of them are suspects.

Everyone has secrets, right?

What really matters is how far you’ll go to protect them.”

SOUNDS GREAT, RIGHT?

It was. This book definitely lived up to my expectations and more! I had so many theories from the beginning and most of them were wrong but I figured one thing out!

I don’t want to say too much for fear of ruining the book for any who are going to read it (you all should) but there were so many twists; it really kept me guessing! It was so good that I read it in a day, around being at work!

Rating: 5 Stars

(I’ve also added to my favourites shelf on Goodreads – there are only 3 other books on there, so I think that says a lot)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review enough to read the book…trust me, it’s worth a read!

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you may already know that I’m pretty interested in History. In particular, the Tudors.

I studied Tudor history (along with Luther and the German Reformation and the Witchcraze in Europe and North America) for 2 years at a-level (results day is getting closer and I’m getting nervous) and that’s when my obsession with historical fiction properly began; when one of my teachers recommended reading Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl.

The vast majority of the historical fiction books I’ve read so far have been set in the Tudor period and written by Philippa Gregory, although I have quite a few historical fiction books that aren’t set in the Tudor period, that I haven’t gotten round to reading yet (surprise, surprise).

So here are my top 3 Tudor fiction books…happy reading!

1. The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory

I picked this up second hand from a charity book stall, last year, and was really excited to read it…I finished it in 9 days.

It is set between the years 1548 and 1558 and follows the story of a Jewish girl called Hannah Green who has the gift of the “Sight”, which allows her to foresee the future. She and her father are forced to flee Spain and come to England in order to escape the Inquisition. Robert Dudley brings her to court to be a “holy fool” for Queen Mary I…to spy on her. I really enjoyed this book it’s definitely one of the best that I’ve read!

Rating: 4 Stars

2. The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir

I owned this book for several years before I actually read it (why am I like this?) but honestly, this book was amazing! It looks at the life of Elizabeth I, right from her childhood, when she noticed that people were no longer calling her “Lady Princess” but “Lady Elizabeth” (the book starts just after the execution of Anne Boleyn). The book looks at how the relationship between Elizabeth I and her older half-sister, Mary I, grew and changed throughout their lives – at the beginning of the book, Mary genuinely loves her younger sister and is the one to tell Elizabeth about the death of her mother, but begins to grow increasingly wary of her as she gets older. The book also looked at the relationship between Elizabeth I and Thomas Seymour, which I thought was interesting, although not necessarily accurate. But all in all, this was a really good read!

Rating: 4 Stars

3. The King’s Secret Matter by Jean Plaidy

This book follows the “King’s Great Matter” – Henry VIII’s desire for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his desire for a male heir and his lust for Anne Boleyn. Henry is angry that his wife has been unable to provide him with a “suitable” heir (Mary was disregarded as this as she was female). Upon the arrival of Anne Boleyn and her refusal to become his mistress, Henry begins to secretly formulate a plan (with the help of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey) to divorce Catherine and make Mary illegitimate…but Catherine fights back. This was one of my favourite aspects of my Tudor course and so I enjoyed this book!

Rating: 3 Stars

I hope you found this interesting! Try reading one of these books (or another by one of these authors), they’re great!

I doubt I’m alone in the fact that over the years, I have accumulated a (very) large amount of bookmarks…and I’m only 18. (I dread to think how many I’ll own by the time I hit 21, let alone 40+).

And yet I can never find one when I’m actually reading a book. Surely I’m not the only one?

The majority of the time, you’ll see me using a crumpled bus ticket as a bookmark (crumpled because I screwed up and then had to try and smooth it out when I realised that I had no bookmark on me). Luckily, I get one or two buses a day, six days a week, so my bag is usually full of bus tickets!

But I don’t understand how I always seem to have this problem. I have a mug that I use to keep my actual bookmarks in and you can usually spot a couple lying on the floor in my room, or sticking out of books I haven’t finished reading.

I swear, I could have a bookmark for every book I own and I’d still never have one when I need one! I reckon it’s just one of those things.

I have a tbr pile of 39 books, some of which have been on it for several years (I know, I’m a disgrace). So I decided to make a post on some of the books which I want to read the most from this in the hope that I’ll remember that I own them and actually get round to reading them sooner!

1). Ross Poldark by Winston Graham

I’ve had this book on my tbr pile for the longest…since 7th November 2015 (terrible, I know). I bought this book in a sale, in a bundle with the books Demelza and Jeremy Poldark, also by Winston Graham, because I love the Poldark series. I’ve heard that the books are different to the TV series, but I’m still super excited to read them…when I get round to it!

Sidenote: I plan to read this first book when the current series ends (two episodes to go!)

2). Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

After spending two years listening to my History teacher telling us all to read (and watch) Wolf Hall, I bought it for myself. I really enjoy reading books based in the Tudor period and am looking forward to reading this!

3). An Autumn Crush by Milly Johnson

I am a huge fan of Milly Johnson’s books and this is the third of her “seasons” collection. I have already read the spring and summer books and have the winter one on my tbr pile alongside this. I want to read the autumn book before the winter one but I plan to read this in the autumn!

4). Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

I actually bought this book a year ago, but forgot to add it to my tbr list on Goodreads until this week, when I was tidying my bookshelves. I meant to read it in October last year and totally forgot about it (oops) but definitely want to read it this October (I’ll have to set a reminder to actually make sure I remember).

5). One Day by David Nicholls

I bought this book in February last year and have been meaning to read this for ages. A friend read it before me and has been trying to convince me to read it ever since. I watched the film and liked it and definitely want to read the book soon!

This is just a very brief extract from my tbr pile, I have loads more to read! Does anyone else have such extensive tbr piles? I feel like I buy books and forget that I own them!

I thought it would be fun to talk about my favourite places to read and why I love them!

1. My bed

I guess this one is fairly obvious. It’s comfy and cosy and I love to read until I fall asleep. When I’m working, I don’t have as much time as I’d like to read, so I like to go to bed maybe an hour before I plan to sleep and curl up with a book. Even better if it’s raining because I sleep in an attic and I love hearing the rain on the roof.

2. The living room

I don’t know what other people call this, my family just refer to it as “the room” but other people say “living room”, “sitting room” or “lounge”…but you know where I mean. My house isn’t always the most peaceful, but after eating in the evening, I like to curl up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a blanket and read. This is improved by the presence of my dogs asleep on my knee/feet.

3. The car

If you have read one of my previous posts (the one about having no patience with people who say that they don’t have time to read), you may have assumed that I’d have the bus included somewhere in this list. But now I’ve left college, my daily bus rides aren’t as long and due to my panicking about missing my stop, I daren’t read on the bus anymore. But I love reading in the car. Long journeys are a great way to catch up on your reading (providing someone else is driving, obviously) and, thankfully, reading in the car doesn’t make me feel sick as I know it does to some of my friends.

4. The bath

Last on my list is the bath. I don’t often have the time, but one of my favourite things to do is run a bubble bath (or use a bath bomb) and just lie there, reading. Face masks are a bonus, although I tend to lose track of time and forget how long I’ve had it on for! Unfortunately, my family aren’t keen on me reading in the bath as it means no one else can use the bathroom!

Do we share any of the same favourite places to read? Leave me a comment!